Foot Locker announced it will relocate its headquarters from New York to Florida.

The footwear retailer and Fortune 500 company will call St. Petersburg home by late 2025.

The company said the move would “enable increased collaboration among teams across banners and functions, while also reducing costs,” Fox Business reports.

Fox Business reports:

The retailer already has a “very meaningful commercial and executive team presence” in St. Petersburg, according to CEO Mary Dillon. The company won’t be requiring relocation for workers, she told analysts and investors.

“Historically, that was originally the headquarters of Champs Sporting Goods,” Dillon also told analysts and investors. “We have a large concentration of folks there already, and we think it’s a great place for us to continue to grow and do business and continue to attract top talent.”

Meanwhile, Foot Locker’s corporate presence in New York City will be “limited” in the future.

Dillon said the HQ relocation to the Sunshine State was “going to continue to give us better opportunities, both for further collaboration across the business and there’s some financial benefits over time as well.”

Per St. Pete Rising:

As part of the move, Foot Locker will also open a Global Technology Services (GTS) Hub in Dallas, Texas to “accelerate technology delivery and cross-functional collaboration,” according to the company.

The announcement ends yearslong speculation over whether the company would move to St. Petersburg.

The retailer was rumored to be eyeing a move to the Sunshine City in 2021 when the St. Petersburg City Council approved $475,000 in financial incentives for an unnamed Fortune 500 company dubbed Project Athena.

To receive the incentives, the company would need to bring 300 new jobs to St. Petersburg and pay an average wage above $120,000 per year.

 

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